Mammals

The inspiration for this work begins with the cave drawings from our earliest human ancestors, such as those found in Lascaux depicting the animals and world as it was understood at that time. It is likely that the human ability for visual representation predates our development of written language.

For much of the history of humanity we have had at our command an extremely limited color palette consisting primarily of the reddish/orange/yellow iron saturated clays known as ochres, white chalk from calcite rock and animal shells and black from the charcoal remains of our early fires. Strangely, throughout the history of art up to the present day, it is these colors that remain the primary colors of the classical tradition, particularly in drawing. You’ll discover that the sanguine (red), white and black crayon or pencil is all that many artists require to accurately represent the line and tonality of the human body. In this drawing, we see the evolution of figurative representation from prehistory to the present in terms of style and color.

Mammals are defined by placental births and the ability to produce milk for their offspring. All animals, including humans, depicted here are mammals.

Sadly, by depicting the animals, humans have also developed such a deep understanding of many of these animal habits that has inevitably led to their human induced extinction.